The Netherlands' Derk van Luijk has outlasted Bulgaria's Boris Angelov after an hours-long heads-up duel to emerge as the champion of the PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino main event. Luick earned €1,000,000 for the win in the largest-ever EPT Monte Carlo main, which drew 1,208 entries and generated a €5,858,800 prize pool.
Van Luick began the day mired in sixth place among seven players at the final table, with a stack barely one-fourth the size of Angelov's. Angelov qualified online and appeared set to write the ending of his choice, but instead, after a back-and-forth battle, Van Luick captured a winner's payday nearly five times as large as his recorded lifetime tourney winnings to date.
Angelov's near-miss was worth a second-place, €620,500 payout in what was also a career-best performance by a wide margin. The same can be said for the third-place finisher, the US's Rania Nesreddine, who collected a career-best €442,900 by placing third. The payday pushed Nesreddine, a frequent tourney grinder from Oklahoma, over the million-dollar mark in lifetime earnings.
Van Luick doubles against Angelov early to stave off elimination
Early on, it didn't appear as though fate would favor van Luick. After Brazil's Jonathan Guedes, Germany's Niclas Thumm, and France's Jonathan Pastore hit the rail early in Saturday's finale, van Luick was in short-stack status himself, down to less than two million in chips.
Soon, van Luick moved his stack all with pocket eights, only to be called by then-leader Angelov, who held an off-suited king-nine. Van Luick spiked an eight on the flop, however, to make a set and score an easy double-up, and from that point he continued to grind upward into contention. He soon sent Serbia's Jovan Kenjic to the cashier's cage in fourth, and after successfully picking off an Angelov bluff, making it a nearly even three-way race with Angelov and Nesreddine.
Fortune continued to run van Luick's way in a hand against Nesreddine for nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. Holding 5-4, Nesreddine made two pair on a 4-3-J-5 board, and check-raised van Luick all in. Van Luick called the all-in with J-10, then scooped the huge pot when a ten appeared on the river. Nesreddine was left with less than a million in chips and busted soon after.
Flip-flopped lead during heads-up duel
Van Luick began his duel for the title against Angelov with nearly two-thirds of the chips, but that soon reversed when Angelov took down several smaller pots to regain the edge. Then Angelov had a second chance to close out van Luick, this time getting all the chips in with pocket kings against van Luick's A-Q. This time the flop brought two more queens, followed by the case queen on the turn for quads, and van Luick again moved in front.
Though the entire heads-up duel ran for nearly six hours, van Luick ran pure when it mattered most. With blinds having risen several times, Angelov moved all in with king-seven, and van Luick called with ace-queen. Another queen on the flop left Angelov needing a king or runner-runner sevens, but the turn and river blanked out, sealing Van Luick's EPT Monte Carlo win.
"There were so many comebacks. I got down, but I climbed back up again. It was a long heads up," admitted van Luijk after his win. "I still can't realize it. I'm serious, it's amazing,"
The final-table finishers were as follows:
Place Winner Prize (Euros)
1 Derk van Luijk (Netherlands) - €1,000,000
2 Boris Angelov (Bulgaria) - €620,500
3 Rania Nasreddine (United States) - €442,900
4 Jovan Kenjic (Serbia) - €340,500
5 Jonathan Pastore (France) - €261,700
6 Niclas Thumm (Germany) - €201,000
7 Jonathan Guedes (Brazil) - €154,900
Image courtesy Rational Holdings Limited / Manuel Kovsca
